Quit Humanizing Animal Agriculture

There is a difference between human and humane. I think people are forgetting that very important difference.

The last few weeks I’ve been dealing with animal rights activist on my Facebook page and I was quite stunned at what they were saying to me. One of my ‘favorites’ was, “How would you like it if I raped your mother and killed your father and siblings?”.

This comment bothered me in more than just one way. First of all, don’t you dare threaten my family. Second, humans and cattle are not in the same ‘playing field’. Survival of the fittest isn’t about equal rights for everyone.

If animal rights activist had their way:

Cattle would starve. There isn’t enough grass and protein sources for cattle to survive in the winter months. No matter where they are.

There would be cattle deaths because of starvation, hit by vehicles, dehydration, sickness, and disease. If cows ran free who knows how well their health and well being would be.

Calves wouldn’t survive. Calves need a lot of attention. They are susceptible to many diseases. Many of these diseases, such as scours and pneumonia, can kill a calf in a matter of days if not properly treated. Fact: Did you know that if a Hereford cow is in poor health, she will cut her milk supply off, which leads to death of the calf, to keep herself alive? Survival of the fittest.

Bulls would be bulls. Many people don’t know that bulls will fight for dominance of the herd. Most times the smaller bull will either be killed or hurt severely. Survival of the fittest.

Cattle are dangerous. They are NOT pets. Many people could be injured by cattle that are running loose. Momma cows will take anything in the path of their baby. Bulls will fight anything that is in their territory. Not all cows run away.

There would be millions of pounds of food waste.

When you humanize animal agriculture it puts everything in a different light. You’re making these animals human by believing that they actually need to be raised like a child. Animals are completely different than children and have different needs. They do not grow up and become smarter, they do not learn to take care of themselves, they do not learn to not poop where they eat, and they don’t how to live without assistance. So if they’re not humans, why do we keep trying to make them that?

Treating animals humanely is the only way to treat them. But humane and human are two completely different terms. (Humanely: marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans OR animals. Human: of, relating to, or affecting people.) Farmers do and will continue to treat their animals humanely and not like humans.

Survival of the fittest is what is comes down to. Either way. If we produce beef products or not. We cannot keep humanizing animal agriculture. We can’t befriend every animal on this earth or there will be no humans. We can live hand in hand, but it requires one to be the dominant species. I prefer that it would be me.

Hi, I was raised on a farm north of Kansas City, loved my life and the way my father cared for his animals. Cattle raised to provide the end product is not a mistake when raised in the manner I believe you support. In fact, they would not have a life at all if there wasn’t an end use. The issue for me is corporate ag. Smithfield hog production and similar cattle operations. Help us find a way to support humane food production and effect change in the bad actors. No one has the right (or reason) to be unkind to you, or your family. It is a window into their nature, not a reflection on your farming practices. Keep up the good message.

FINALLY! An article on why city people need to stop their whining about beef and dairy farms. To add to the thing about AI being “rape,” the cow is in heat. You let it loose with a bull and it’s gonna be gotten at, anyway. And another thing: it’s dangerous to a cow’s health if it ISN’T milked. That udder is just going to keep getting fuller and fuller and fuller and it’s going to get extremely uncomfortable, possibly infected, and if it’s left for long enough, there’s a chance it could rupture completely.

Kellie, Thank you for your efforts to explain the realities of modern farming practices. I’m sure you find it very frustrating trying to get people to understand where their food comes from and the methods required to feed a growing population. It’s a very sad situation.

People are so far removed from animals, they believe the meat in the store was not harmed. Reality and common sense are becoming extinct. The hatred towards any one who earns a living with animals is assumed to be exploiting them. The sad thing is most PeTAfiles really could care less for animals, they only care about what THEY selfishly feel

I am not a fan of animal rights activists AT ALL. And I am not a city girl that doesn’t know where her food comes from. I come from a farming family and raised and kept dairy goats for quite a few years as well as raising various other animals for meat. But, it’s not true that cattle could not survive in the wild. They can and have done so in places. I would guess dairy breeds would have more trouble living wild but beef breeds have done so. Turning every domestic cow in the world loose all at once is absolutely a foolish idea that would indeed cause a lot of suffering and death for a LOT of cattle. But they would not go extinct without our intervention.

Animals CAN grow up to take care of themselves. We don’t let them. Many can and would learn to live without our assistance if given the chance to. And they poop where they eat because we keep them in unnatural situation where they aren’t given the opportunity to do anything different. Calves are susceptible to so many diseases and sicknesses very often because of the way we keep them. Whenever you start concentrating animals in smaller areas you are going to have more problems with sickness and disease. Even on the cleanest most well kept farms. Many types of domestic animals have been living and even thriving living feral. Doing so well in fact that it’s a problem in some places. Domestic rabbits and pigs are well known for thriving in the wild. Goats also do well on their own, as do horses, donkeys, some breeds of chickens and turkeys. Not to mention cats.
But, please don’t turn all your cows out into the wild. I don’t want to be a vegetarian. I love my beef and I don’t think I could live without cheese! Keep doing the good job you are doing of treating your animals humanely.

A bit of straw man argument. Most of the terrible things you cite that would befall cattle if we stopped eating them are because we artificially increased their population. That leads to the false argument that they are better off as slaves and then food than if we let them go. A better question than ‘would cattle be better off free?’ Is ‘do we need to kill cattle to survive or do we want to?’. I think India has already answered that one.

Yes! You are so right. God expects us to be good stewards of the earth and the animals on it, including the ones we use for food, but they are definitely not human. I wish these ARA people would put as much energy into protecting humans for rape, poverty and hunger as they do bashing farmers. Imagine the difference it would make!

I don’t think that India is a good example of anything at all where free wondering Cattle are concerned. Most people consider them to be a nightmare messing everywhere, and taking up space and scant resources that they desperately need. Not only that, but they are also not a tiny Island such as mine here in the UK. I can not eat grains as I’m allergic to them, I thrive best on a low carb high meat protein diet, so why should I, or any other person like me be dictated to by someone else that want to have a diet that they feel suits them better?

I am fed up of the ridiculous claims that we can turn all the animals loose, that the land will somehow still sustain all of them, but also somehow feed the world as Vegans. That if we suddenly stop eating beef we can feed the starving. Really? Even the slightest amount of common sense dictates that this is the hugest amount of nonsense in existence. That grain is generally only suitable for cattle in the first instance, and not humans, it still belongs to someone that wants to make a profit from it, poor starving people are still not going to have the money to pay for food, and to top it all off…….if you are not feeding cattle grain then the cost of grain will go up because people will eat what is suitable for them, and the rest will go for bio fuel rising prices further. Those poor starving people are still going to starve because that grain will be even further out of their reach.

It’s a huge idealistic world that non meat eaters live in with a Disney idea of what animals do on farms. Animal Rights Activists such as PETA play on this, and very few of them are willing to put their money where their mouths are. I’ve yet to see massive buy ups of farms turned into sanctuaries, and free roaming areas for all these animals. I’ve yet to see any of these people actively making the world the place they want for these animals.

How dare you treat animals as they were intended! I am appalled by your genuine use of truth and facts! I am offended that you are not catering to the ignorance of others!

All joking aside this is an excellently written article that points out a lot of the stuff that people just don’t know, don’t get, and will flat our refuse to see. Thank you though for articulating the argument.

If we would not raise animals for food, there would not be an aboundance of these animals. You had this wrong. Animals need ressources to reproduce. Eventually it would all balance. We are not raising/eating mole rats, and there is no over-population of mole rats.

“Millions of pounds of food waste”? Tell me how, Kellie. Last thing I know is that raising animals for food is one of the biggest waste of food: you feed food to “food”. Lots of poor countries use their agriculture grounds only to make food that is exported to rich countries to feed their “food” (animal live stock).

We, humans, are just another animals in this mysterious world. Sure, we are smart, but we are not the leaders of the world. Other animals do not need us. Scientific community think Earth existed with animals on it millions of years before humans appeared. Do you think everything was out of control, then humanity came in and settled eveything?

Other animals, and you know it, feel joy and pain, both emotionnaly et physically. “Animal products” such as meats and diaries, cause pain to animals. Almost every human can, biologically, have an 100% vegan alimentation. So all the pain the animals goes trought is unnecessairy. If it’s unnecessairy to cause this suffering, should you do it?

Last thing. You use “survival of the fittest” often. “Survival of the fittest” is a fact, it is NOT a moral/ethic guideline. If it would be, I could kill an innocent children to eat him because I am stronger than him . We are animals, but as Aristotle said it, we are rationnal animals. We have values and ethics. That’s why we show compassion to the weakests and help them live a life worth living. Eating meat and diaries often cause unnessary sufferings to weaker animals. Of course humans are the strongests on earth (with our technologies), but thats just a fact: it should not be used as a moral guideline.

Aside from the fact that you mean “don’t anthropomorphism animal ag” you build the entire article on a missed point. If we had our way (AR Activists) no animals would starve, eat their young, or suffer in any way because there would be no animal slave trade (animal ag) in the first place. Your article is mistaken from beginning to end.

Hi Michael. I loved your feedback. I’m just curious on how you would prevent sows from eating their own young, since that is what they tend to do if not in a farrowing crate, where would you come up with all the food (it’s not free), and there is no such thing as a slave trade. These animals aren’t our slaves. I would, seriously, enjoy to hear how you would handle these situations. As a farmer I enjoy taking care of my animals and would like to know what ways animal rights activist believe we should be doing better. (Besides the butchering-I’m aware that you would prefer we don’t do that.)

So called “animal rights activists” are in reality mentally ill dumbasses, who’s ready to kill other people to “protect” fake so called “animal rights”, which in reality are only in their heads and in the heads of others like them. The whole “animal rights” agenda have to be recognized as terrorism.

It would seem you want animal agricultural to be backwards, uncivilized, inhumane? As someone already answered, if the animals were not being bred for slaughter, they wouldn’t starve, over populate, create food waste, or any of the other oddly imagined scenarios you so self- servingly put forth. You can’t credibly claim that they would not survive in the wild and would thrive and overpopulate in the same argument. How could it be both?

Your article states that these animals are treated humanely. You don’t explain how. In my view, being locked up for a short life and then forced to slaughter has no elements of humane. Nothing showing compassion or benevolence, just domination and violence.

Hi Kim! I appreciate you stopping by my blog and your feedback. We actually help keep the overpopulation down on cattle. If cattle roamed free those cows would be bred over and over again and no rest time in between. I would love to know how you think they wouldn’t starve? They are herbivores so they winter months would very trying on them. They could migrate, but without a source of water they wouldn’t get very far. Please let me know how you would prevent them from starving, I’m curious, as a farmer, to know this information. I’m confused about your comment about them thriving and overpopulating. They wouldn’t thrive, but they would overpopulate. Animals don’t need to be in great condition to keep breeding. Cattle are treated humanely and I encourage you to read other blog posts I’ve wrote about what we do on the farm to keep them safe and happy. I would love to sit down with you and discuss animal agriculture at any time. Have a great day Kim!